No. 19 Oregon falls to Colorado 76-53

BOULDER, Colo. -- Well, at least it wasn't decided by a single point this time.

The Oregon men's basketball team now has an official thorn in its side in Colorado, which didn't need any late heroics Thursday night in defeating the No.19 Ducks 76-53 at the Coors Events Center.

The Ducks missed out on an opportunity to control their own destiny in pursuit of an outright Pac-12 title, and, in the process, fell to 1-4 against the Buffaloes since they joined the conference last season. The three previous losses all had been one-point decisions.

"Just really disappointed," said Ducks coach Dana Altman, whose squad also surrendered the final eight points to Colorado in a 48-47 home loss last month. "We were flat, no energy, and in a game like this, it's just really unbelievable."

Thanks to losses by UCLA and California on Wednesday night, the Ducks (23-7, 12-5 Pac-12) might get away with this one -- at least for practical purposes. They can clinch at least a share of the conference title with a win Saturday at Utah in the regular-season finale.

"We just played terrible tonight, bottom line," Ducks forward E.J. Singler said. "But we can still get half the championship against Utah, and that's what we're looking forward to."

The Ducks are tied atop the conference with UCLA (which plays closes at Washington on Saturday) and the teams would be considered co-champs if they end in a tie. But for the purposes of the conference tournament, Oregon would win the tiebreaker and be anointed the top seed by virtue of defeating the Bruins in the teams' lone meeting Jan. 19.

Shortly before Thursday's contest, it was announced that Colorado (20-9, 10-7) would be without the nation's leading rebounder, Andre Roberson, who was ill and in street clothes. But rather than being a buoy for the Ducks, his absence seemed to galvanize the shorthanded Buffaloes, who got a game-best 22 points from freshman Xavier Johnson.

"To be honest, that kind of messed up my focus," Ducks forward Arsalan Kazemi said. "I was really ready for Roberson to play, and when he was sitting out, I guess my energy level went down a little bit. I can't let that happen."

The Ducks fell into an early 20-6 crater and trailed 37-21 at halftime. It wasn't an ideal showing in front of an ESPN2 audience, but Oregon remains in good shape in the big picture.

The Ducks got 10 points apiece from Kazemi, Johnathan Loyd and Ben Carter and needed a late flurry to bring their shooting percentage up to 37.5 for the night.

"There wasn't any pressure. It was more excitement," Kazemi said. "I think we thought they were just going to give it to us, and it didn't happen."